Town Fears Railroad Will Sell Park Land

OAKLAND — Town officials are concerned about the future of downtown property the town had been using as a park. They fear the land will be sold.

The parcel, owned by Seaboard System Railroad, is next to the railroad tracks. The area is about two blocks wide from Tubbs Street to Daniels Street and about one block from Petris Avenue to the unused railroad tracks.

Oakland has treated the land as town property and maintained it as a park since 1913.

Town attorney William Asma told the council Tuesday the railroad has decided to legally abandon its right of way, making it available for sale.

A few interested buyers have contacted the railroad, said Al Rast, a railroad representative. ''We want to sell the property because we're removing the track,'' he said. ''We have no further use for it.''

Negotiations, he said, have begun with a national conservation organization called the Trust for Public Land.

Carolyn Ruesch, a vice president for the Trust for Public Land, said the non-profit organization acts as an intermediary between government agencies interested in buying lands for public use and the sellers.

''We pick land to buy when there is an obvious case for a city park or a public land,'' she said. ''It should be clear that there is a public interest in that property.''

For example, if a town wants to buy land for a park, but does not have the money in its budget, the Trust for Public Land will buy the land, then work out a pay agreement with the town. The Trust for Public Land usually sells the property for 22 percent below the average fair market value, said Ruesch.

She said the Trust for Public Land and the railroad are nowhere near a deal on the land.

Asma said Oakland may have a legal claim to some of the railroad's right of way. He said if the railroad right of way overlaps Oakland's right of way, the land automatically belongs to the town after it is abandoned.

If, however, there is no overlap, the town council told Asma to begin adverse possession proceedings. Under adverse possession, if Oakland can prove it has maintained the land continuously for more than 20 years and considers the land town property, the town will receive a title for the property.

Proving continuous maintenance should be easy, Asma said, because of the landscaping and treatment of the area as a park. ''If you need 50 people to testify on the maintenance of the park, we'll have them for you,'' council member William Hartsfield said at the meeting.